The convergence of various high speed data communication technologies (e.g., Ethernet, fiber channel, IEEE firewire links) into the gigabit domain has focused the efforts of integrated circuit designers on developing high speed circuit techniques for processing broadband signals. A circuit block that is commonly found in these types of communication applications is a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO). As the main building block of phase-locked loops (PLLs), the VCO can be found, for example, in clock and data recovery circuits.
The VCO is typically an important element in determining the overall noise performance of a PLL. Since the VCO is the part of the PLL which produces an ac output signal whose frequency is proportional to the input control signal, external unwanted noise affecting the input control signal has an adverse impact on the performance of the PLL. Hence, it is desirable to provide a VCO whose input control signal is less susceptible to noise interference thereby improving the performance of the PLL.
Furthermore, conventional VCOs are constructed to provide a single-ended output signal. FIG. 1 is a simplified circuit diagram showing a conventional design of a VCO. Under this conventional design, the VCO includes an active circuit (or driver) 10 having a couple of terminals A, B, an inductor-capacitor (LC) tank circuit 12 and a couple of variable capacitors (or varactors) 14, 16 connected in series. The LC tank circuit 12 and the varactors 14, 16 are connected in a parallel manner across the terminals A, B. The input control signal Vtune is connected to the node between the two varactors 14, 16. As FIG. 1 shows, the input control signal Vtune is single-ended.
Due to their single-ended nature, single-ended signals, however, are more susceptible to noise interference. It is, therefore, desirable to provide a VCO implemented in CMOS technology based on an inductor-capacitor (LC) oscillator structure that uses differentially controlled varactors.